Posts Tagged ‘texas hold em’

There are times when events come together in a synchronous way that can surprise even an old poker player like me. Take the other day when I was at the doctor’s office. As I took off my jacket, an elderly woman in the waiting room got a look at the 44th Annual WSOP t-shirt I was wearing and exclaimed, “Oh my goodness. I LOVE poker! Were you actually there?”

She was probably the last person I would have imagined would react like that, but then again, poker is something that transcends age. At any rate, I told her that I had indeed attended the last three World Series of Poker Main Event play down to the Final Nine in Vegas.

At around that point, the nurse who’d come to call in the next patient overheard us and asked me if I’d mind posing for a picture, with my shirt prominently displayed of course, so she could show it to her husband, adding that they love to play Texas Hold ‘Em and that they follow the WSOP TV coverage every year. My elderly woman friend agreed, and her enthusiasm got to me. So I pulled out my cell to show her some pictures I’d taken sitting on the rail at the main table last November. I was sitting behind Daniel Negreneau, my favorite poker star, who she not only recognized but told me was her all-time favorite, too.

There was no way I could resist. I flipped to one of my prized photos, the one of me standing with “Kid Poker” as he held a copy of my recently published rock and roll memoirs, “Them Changes.” The woman was obviously star-struck, and after asking me the name of my book and promising to buy it on Amazon, it was time for me to go into the doctor’s office. As luck would have it, however, we found ourselves going down in the elevator together about a half-hour later. I told her that if she waited right in front of the office I’d be right back, went to my car and got out a copy of my book from the back seat. When I brought it over to her she was genuinely thrilled . . . and asked me to sign it “To Faye . . .”

Oh yeah, she disclosed her age to me and indeed, age is not a factor when it comes to loving poker … I wish her the best of luck at the tables and smiled all the way home.

Everyone who has been following this blog for a while knows that I’m a huge poker fan. I enjoy playing Texas Hold ‘Em every week and I get a thrill out of watching the professionals play — especially during the World Series of Poker. I was at the Rio in Vegas again this year, cheering on my favorites at the rail, and I stayed until it was down to the Final Nine. I can’t wait to see how it all plays out in November.

But for pure, gut-wrenching excitement, nothing gets the blood boiling like the start of football season. And in this house, that begins with Aggie football, as in the fightin’ Texas A&M football team taking the field for their first game of the season this Saturday night against the Arizona State Sun Devils. The game is being played at NRG Stadium in Houston, supposedly a neutral field, but the crowd will be overwhelmingly maroon.

Finally, after all the hype and the buzz and the interviews, spring football, SEC Media Days, fall camp and months of grueling conditioning and practice, it’s time to see what this team is all about. Will the new John Chavis-led defense have the wrecking crew mentality we’re hoping for, with Myles Garrett setting records for sacks and Brandon William’s move from running back to corner paying off big time? Will Kyle Allen pick up where he left off in the Liberty Bowl and drive the Aggie offense down the field with confidence. He certainly has a full house of talented wide receivers to throw the ball to. And what about the O-line, with Dave Christiensen calling the shots? We know he and Kevin Sumlin are planning for a more balanced attack, so we’re looking for a strong running game and some tough battles in the trenches.

The Sun Devils are coming off back-to-back 10-win seasons and are ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press pre-season poll. This won’t be a cake-walk; in fact some have the Aggies as underdogs.

But it’s Aggie football time, and as always, we’re betting on the maroon and white to start the season with a W. That will set up next Saturday’s opening night home game in the newly renovated, finest football stadium in the country. More about that to come. It just doesn’t get much better than winning at the tables last night and rooting for our Aggies tomorrow night.

In the meantime, keep watching our blog for giveaways and great prizes once SEC play begins.

We’ve often been asked “how important is the idea of playing position in a poker game?” As far as we’re concerned, playing to the strengths of your position is extremely important, whether it’s a stud game, a draw game or any poker game variant including, and perhaps more so, in Texas Hold’em.

We know the question about position has been asked and answered a gazillion times but it still confuses a lot of players. We’ve written about it before, so here it is again; we hope it helps.

This is a brief description on the positions in Hold Em. Naturally the number of players tends to change the importance of positions, but generally speaking, when a table is full with nine or ten players as in our illustration below, the positions are usually titled Early Positions or EP, Middle Positions or MP and Late Positions or LP. And as their name implies, EPs act first, then MPs and finally LPs.

Early position players:

The small blind is usually considered the worst position after the flop. This player is always the first player to the dealer’s left.

The big blind is to the left of the small blind and his position is usually considered just as bad.

Under the gun is the player who acts first pre-flop. He sits to the left of the big blind and many consider this to be the worst position pre-flop because he must bet or fold first without having any advantage of knowing what everyone else might do.

Middle position players:

These players have a very slight advantage but they are basically in about the same position as EP players. They just get to see a little more action before making their move and can act accordingly.

Late position players:

Hijack is to the right of the cutoff player and has the ability to steal the blinds but needs to be careful because he still has two more players to act after him.

Cutoff is a solid position and has the advantage of “cutting off” the dealer’s chance of stealing the blinds; that is if they haven’t already been hijacked.

Dealer or Button is the absolute best position because this guy has the advantage of acting last on the flop, the turn and the river.

These are your basic positions, but how you play them really varies according to your style of playing and, of course, the style of every other player at your poker table. There are lots of players, including us, that know that position is the absolute most important commodity to have at the poker table.

I get a lot of calls, FaceBook messages and way too many texts asking questions about what to do to at the poker table when playing Texas Hold ‘Em … What should I do with a little Ace, or a small pair in the middle position, or should I try bluffing with nothing in late position?

My answers are always pretty much the same; I don’t know! What you can do varies a lot, and highly depends on who your opponents are, how many players are left, how many chips you still have, etc. etc. There really are no pat answers. I make my moves based on a zillion little facts but at the end of the day I go with my gut instincts. Sometimes all you really need to do is trust them.

I prepare myself before every game by remembering some of the golden rules I’ve heard from the legends of poker like Phil Negreanu, Mike Caro, or Antonio Esfandiari. Never play drunk. Don’t gamble with more than you can afford to lose. Never play pissed off (on tilt). Check out what Esfandiari has to say about playing on tilt in the video below.

Follow the advice of the legends, apply the golden rules and have fun. See you at the tables.